Juraian Knight
by enlu-tarsonis
Summary: Ranma' inadvertantly comes to the aid of Seto Kamiki of the GXP after the ship she was on was attacked by a high priority criminal just outside the Terra system. Fixed Author's Notes, and resubmitted Chapter 01.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 01:When it all goes to BLEEP

Outside of the Terra Solar System a small ship sat in wait. It wasn't much to look at, just a cylindrical hull with a pair of what could almost be considered forward swept wings set in the aft third of the ship. It didn't even have a dorsal or ventral sail to complement the wings.

It did seem to have one major aspect to it though that might gain a second or third notice. That it was either completely new… or that it could sustain a hit very well. The ship appeared not to be marred by ANYTHING.

However the ship had no apparent shield generators, nor was it of any of the organic based ships such as the Juraian Empire used. Just plain old burnished bronze colored metal. Though this metal seemed to shift slightly and the eye couldn't quite make out the true edges of the craft.

While it sat there a small lone meteor drifted close, the small ship turned towards the meteor and almost disappeared from view as it shot forward in a hyper accelerated motion without any visible use of thrusters or other means of propulsion. The speed alone spoke of an incredible inertial dampening system.

What was left of the meteor? Nothing but a few smaller chunks from its impact with the small winged vessel.

Scene Break 

Just entering one of the back water systems inside GXP patrolled space a large wooden vessel dropped out of hyperspace. The craft was of obvious Juraian make, with the sweeping wooden overlays and the oval core living areas. However this craft didn't seem like most of the Juraian space ships that the majority of the Galaxy was used to seeing. Instead of a slim profile and many areas for weapons nodes. This craft was much longer and broader. More disk in shape than many of its brethren.

Inside the craft everything seemed to be going according to whatever plan they were following. There were many passengers just lounging around the forested inner areas. And the crew, though dressed like GXP officers and midshipmen, were just walking around if off duty and manning duty stations if otherwise. No one appeared to be suspecting anything.

So when a small bronze craft with forward swept wings appeared in the Juraian crafts high ecliptic the crew may be forgiven for not manning battle stations immediately. But though they may be forgiven, that did not mean that they survived unscathed.

The small craft neared the much larger wooden vessel and on the first pass racked the sides of the Juraian luxury liner with concentrated plasma blasts vaporizing some of the port quarters wooden structure. Inside the Juraian ship damage klaxons started to blare and the passengers panicked while the GXP officers ran to man their stations. In the control area next to the space tree a tall regal woman with aqua marine hair in a bun spun to look at a Juraian noble who held a Juraian Key.

"Launch us back into Hyperspace Lundsie! Quickly."

The Juraian noble looked pale as she took in damage report screens that were popping up around her. The ship shook again as the small fighter craft harassing them made another pass.

"Lundsie! Hurry." The woman demanded again.

Lundsie however just turned to her with a face drained of color. "We can't Admiral. The first pass damaged Serateho's FTL capability."

"Then scan the system for a life bearing planet. I'm taking out the Fernandis to fend off that ship." The Admiral said and turned to storm off towards the back of the wooden craft.

"Admiral! Wait!" Lundsie yelled after her. "Admiral Kamiki! Seto! Damn." The distraught Juraian turned back to her screens. "Serateho, scan the Terra system for the nearest life bearing planet. And launch the distress beacon." She turned to another screen that had the face of a red skinned GXP Ensign. "Katsurugi! Get the passengers into their bunkers in case we have a hull breach." Turning to another screen where a brown haired man's face could be seen. "Sceert get our back up drives functional. Serateho can't move under his own power right now."

Lundsie kept barking out orders to the GXP officers that in the absence of Seto Kamiki she now commanded. "Be save Admiral. If anything happened to you the Emperor will have my hide."

Scene Break 

Inside a small much more technological based craft Seto and a few other GXP officers were limping back to the Serateho. Seto herself had a sling on, and the armrest of the command chair she sat in appeared to have exploded or been damaged by something. One of the crew had a bandage around his head and was sitting near a dead screen. The rest of the bridge appeared to be heavily damaged as well. However they were alive.

The outside of the craft on the other hand looked like it shouldn't be space worthy, let alone capable of movement. Once upon a time the hull would have been a brilliant sapphire blue, now only small sections weren't marred by some form of scorching. Of the six thruster arrays that propelled the craft, only one worked, two more were still attached but sputtering. The last three had been shattered by something and took a good portion of the aft part of that section of the ship with them.

They were also leaving a trail of oxygen and water behind them. A sure sign of a ship bleeding to death in the depths of space. But they were still alive. And also coming up on the blue white disk of a planet that they hoped would be able to bear them until rescue could arrive. But then they saw something that chilled their very blood.

"By Tsunami!" Seto whispered through a bloody lip.

The Fernandis had managed to drive off the unknown assailant, but maybe it hadn't been enough. As now Seto and her crew could see the Serateho was trailing even more vital atmosphere behind it. Making it appear to be a small wooden comet coming into the outer atmosphere of the planet.

"Dock us, emergency protocol Ensign. We have to aid them!" Seto commanded her helmsman.

As the Fernandis flew in towards the damaged Juraian luxury liner Seto watched as the first of what she feared many bodies flew out of one of the rents in the hull.

Scene Break 

Detective Second Class Mihoshi and Detective third class Kiyone were sitting with their friends Tenchi, Ayeka, Ryoko, and the rest watching an entertaining drama in Tenchi's house one sunny afternoon.

It had been awhile since everyone's last adventure, and Mihoshi had even managed not to destroy anything since they had gotten back. All told it was a good day in Kiyone's book.

Too bad it was interrupted by the incessant beeping on her wrist comm.

"Ah man. What now." The emerald haired woman complained and reached to tap her comm to answer her ships computer.

Before Kiyone could complete the action however, Washu came barreling out of her lab out of breath. "Everyone! There's an Emergency! A Juraian ship is in orbit, and they have a hull breach!" The diminutive red haired genius said slightly out of breath.

"Shit!" Was about the collective consensus around the room.

Ryoko took one look around the room then said. "I'll meet you guys Space Side!" And vanished as she teleported away.

While some of them were panicking, Kiyone was speaking quietly into her communicator. "Calm down everyone. Mihoshi's and my cruiser will be here in a moment. Then we can go topside and start rescueing people."

Washu chose that moment to pull out a small box that resembled a closed lap top computer. "We'll need this." She said.

"What is it." Tenchi asked while Ayeka summoned her Juraian battle robes.

"It's an upgrade to the GXP tractor beam system. This'll allow us to create a temporary bubble of air around any of the crew that have been sucked into space before they can die." Washu exclaimed, much of her normal mad scientist air put to the side while they dealt with this catastrophe.

"The Yokinosho is here." Kiyone said looking out one of the windows.

Mihoshi giggled and pulled an object that looked at first to be a cotton ball or a rabbits tail and tapped it once. The fluff turned into what could only be a solid state cube of jello that she then manipulated like a Rubik's cube as the pink cube was turned and manipulated by the ditzy dirty blonde detective. "Got it!" She exclaimed as a space suit materialized on her. Though the helmet was on backwards. "AAAHHHH!" Could be heard from within the suit as Kiyone rolled her eyes and pulled the helmet off and put it back on correctly.

"Honestly Mihoshi, how do you do it?" She asked as she used her own control device and disappeared in a teleportation beam onto the Yokinosho.

The rest of the gang made quick work getting onto the red space cruiser through their own various means.

Mihoshi bumbled her way up to the control deck where Kiyone was already there in her own space suit. Tenchi and Ayeka walked up to the area both in Juraian battle armor while Washu was in the engine room hooking up her device to the Galaxy Police Space Cruiser.

"All Set" Washu said through a communicator to the bridge as they ascended into the upper stratosphere.

Once there the gang saw that it was a mess for almost 5 miles behind the falling Juraian ship. They could see everything from cargo to frozen atmosphere and liquids trailing like some macabre comet trail.

"There's one!" Ayeka hollered out when she spotted a red skinned woman in a GXP cadet's uniform.

"Tracking… Lock." Kiyone said in a detached professional tone. "Beam Engaged." At the last words from Kiyone a semi-translucent beam shot out of the underside of the Yokinosho and struck the red skinned woman in the center and covered her in a cocoon of blue and green energy. Then she was slowly brought into the ship as they made their way deeper into the debris field picking up what survivors they could.

Things went on like that for an indeterminate amount of time, and the Yukinosho's hold was now full of survivors of the failing ship. According to their sensors the ship's Tree of Jurai was dying, and all the life support systems were failing as the ship drew closer to the planet.

"We're at full capacity now." Washu commed from the engine room. "The ship can not hold any more people before we have a life support failure as well." The comm fell silent for a few moments. "I don't have any of the command crew here Tenchi, we may have to try to bring the dying ship by tractor to save the rest."

Tenchi heard that last part then looked at Kiyone as Mihoshi seemed to be rather absorbed in a magazine at the moment. "Can the Yokinosho handle that strain?"

"No. But I won't abandon that many people to their deaths." Kiyone said with sweat on her brow. So far they had managed to recover about 50 people, but their ship was an interdiction cruiser and though meant for long term voyages it was only outfitted for up to 5 people before becoming completely cramped.

Ryoko suddenly ported beside Tenchi and fell over onto him. "Ca..n't t..laport…a.y mo.r..e" The exhausted ex-pirate said as she fell asleep on Tenchi's shoulder. Ayeka had the good grace to not mention anything about proprietaries that the cyan haired girl was taking.

Kiyone looked back over at Ryoko who was fast asleep now on Tenchi's shoulder as she weaved through the wreckage tagging spaced people with the tractor to at least give them a few more minutes of life just in case. "I didn't know she could teleport more than herself over that distance." She said in amazement as it was obvious that Ryoko had been teleporting people from the debris field to the shrine.

"Neither did I." Ayeka said quietly as Tenchi was gently laying the girl down on the deck plates while making sure she was comfortable.

**Scene Break**

Inside the damaged Serateho Seto set about trying to make planet fall in the damaged ship. She couldn't wear space armor or even a proper suit with her injured arm, but she did have a rebreather over her face. A few of her bridge staff stood neaby operating their holographic keypads and trying to maintain control over the damaged ship.

The captain of the ship had collapsed just a little bit ago from the strain of interfacing with the dying space tree. Now the command crew were using a fallback method of control with manual interfaces. Primitive, but effective in this circumstances. Seto was sure that she may be able to save some of the people, but not all. The ambush had damaged the ship to much, the life essence had drained to far. Much like a terminal patient with a gun shot wound who had lost to much blood, the space tree had lost to much life essence. So even if they were able to patch the hull, the ship was dead anyway from the loss of it's vital energies.

So now all that was left we steering the ship with it's remaining complement of crew and passengers down to the back woods planet and hope to contact the local detachment of the GXP prior to being found by the local populace. Especially as Seto was sure that this planet had not made contact with other races beyond their own as of yet.

"Admiral!" one of the aids said as he turned around to face her. "Extreme levels of life energy detected from the planet!" He said, either hope or panic obvious in his tone.

**Scene Break**

Meanwhile in the Tree Palace of the floating island of Togenkyo a battle of another sort had just taken place. Prince Toma had just been defeated, defeat of a sort that is, and Ranma was falling down the center of the great tree on the island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Everything should have been great for him. He had just rescued his fiancée, defeated a great illusionist, upheld his families honor, and below was the spring water that would remove his curse. He could almost taste it, the end of what he felt was the core of his problems.

The only major problem to all of that was the fact that Akane was falling with him. And if he didn't do something she would end up falling into the water as well and also turn into a guy. Ranma was many things, but Yaoi (1) was not one of them. So he powered up one of his more powerful Ki blasts feeling the confidence within himself well up out of his soul and prepared the blast. The Blue/gold ball of energy quickly formed in his cupped hands at his side.

Akane noticed what he was doing and turned to him in midair. "NO DON'T!" she called out. "IT'S YOUR ONLY CHANCE!"

"I AIN'T ABOUT TO LET YOU BECOME NO GUY 'KANE!" He hollered back as he released the solid manifestation of his confidence. "MOUKU TAKIBISHA!" He called out.

Below the beam punctured through to the bottom of the pool and blew a hole through the floor of the pool. However the water seemed to be flowing out too slowly, so slowly that to Ranma it appeared as if they'd still get drenched. "Hold onto the Wall Akane!" Ranma called out to his fiancée and shoved her to the wall of the giant tunnel in the tree.

Akane did as she was told and watched as Ranma gathered up more of his Ki and shot it out at one of the walls opposite himself. Then he turned slightly and shot another one out before the recoil from the first would cause him to hit the wall himself. He kept doing so and ended up in a near spiral as he fell. Akane watched as his momentum halted as well about 30 meters below her. She found a side tunnel and darted into it but peeked out as she was fascinated by the man that she often belittled even though she still had feelings for him.

She saw the pigtailed martial artist moving in a circle a meter or two from the walls, his spiral not quite halted in it's formation, but now there were almost solid lines of Ki spreading out from his hands and feet forming almost a shell around him. As she watched the ovoid forming around him took on a slightly more solid hue even though she could still see through it. She could also see below it and saw almost a prism of light shooting through the still draining pool of water. As they came near the ovoid that Ranma was forming the light would refract into the shell and strengthen it further. Then slowly at first the bubble holding her fiancée started to rise towards her. After a moment it was gaining in momentum and she ended up having to duck back into the tunnel as the ovoid shot past her. She turned and looked back to look up after it and witnessed as he shot out the top of the tree, somehow the pig tailed youth ended up as the projectile of a life force powered Space Cannon and Akane got to watch as his ovoid shell shot out the top of the tree and into the heavens.

Outside of the tree on the grounds below the palace Toma and the rest of the Nerima Wrecking Crew© watched as a energy shell shot out of the top of the tree into the heavens.

"Son in Law's in that." Cologne stated simply as she guarded her vision against the sunlight while watching the shell disappear into the distance. 

Everyone else was completely silent as they watched the disappearing pig tailed martial artist. A moment later Akane came running out of the palace herself yelling something.

"Calm yourself child." Cologne said calmly.

"Ranma… Did you see…" She said slower though still out of breath.

Happosai stood calmly for once. "Yes we did young Akane. We saw."

Ryoga and Mousse both stood quietly not daring to believe what they just saw.

Kuno watched mouth agape. "Perhaps I have misjudged thee valiant warrior." The older scion of the house of Kuno proclaimed. "To shoot to the heavens in a holy light. Only one of the seraphim may travel as such." Tatewaki Kuno lowered his gaze after losing sight of Ranma. Then he turned to go to where the wreck of his ship was, a heavy weight seemingly upon his shoulders.

Ukyo, Kodachi, and Shampoo watched Ranma shoot to the heavens, and though they were often times at war with each other to try to vie for the pig tailed martial artists attentions they all felt saddened at seeing his departure. Then they turned on Akane and in unison they growled.

Happosai stepped in between them after hearing the guttural vocalization of their anguish turned upon a scapegoat and decided a good glomping was in order. "Hotcha!" He called out as he landed in the bosom of Kodachi.

**Scene Break**

Inside the energy matrix that Ranma had created he was weighing his options. He could not see where he was at right now, and had no notion of how high he had gone. But he did know for a fact that somehow he had innadvertantly gone into at least lower Earth orbit if not high Earth orbit. He also knew that a fall from this height would probably kill him. Luckily his cocoon had somehow absorbed some of the energy of the Tree of Life that was Togenkyo Island, and that seemed to be enough to maintain the energy vortex and shield that kept him alive at the moment.

"_What can I do?"_ He questioned himself once again as he spun around and caught sight of the horizon. _"Yep, Higher Earth Orbit I'm guessing."_ He thought as he watched the land retreat before him. _"I wonder what space will be like?"_ Ranma fluctuated his Ki slightly in his right arc, enough to change the spin of the ovoid slightly so that he could see the stars before his energy gave out. "Wha…?" He exclaimed out loud as he saw a vessel close to him. He didn't make out to much detail other than the fact that he had but a moment or two before he would impact with the side of the…. "Wood?" vessel?

**Scene Break**

Inside the Serateho's bridge Admiral Seto watched the failing view screen as the blue gold ovoid shot up from the planets surface on a ballistic arc that seemed would impact with her ship. "BRACE FOR IMPACT!" She yelled out as she fell back to the ground before the energy attack would hit. _"Perhaps this is where we will die after all. Who knew that a back woods planet like this would have space cannons capable of striking a Juraian ship."_

Everyone was diving for the last vestiges of safety that they could possibly find on the failing ship for the energy shell could only shatter the remains of their ship into small debris that would fall to the planet below and burn up in it's atmosphere.

However the impact never happened. "What happened?" Seto asked as she stood back up only to see the view screen solidify into it's proper fully powered form. _ Systems regaining function _Seto heard from the Ships Juraian Tree. Sure she had misheard she called out as the captain was still unconscious. "Serateho, status."

_ Life force reserves recharging, foreign life pool link established. Systems stabilizing. Life support back online, star drive back online, Force shields back online. Starting Regeneration of outer and inner hull. Retrieving life forms, retrieving energetic host of foreign life pool. _Serateho's telepathic voice was relayed through the systems interface.

Seto just stood there. "Praise Tsunami." She said out loud, voicing everyone's inner thoughts.

**Scene Break**

In the Yukinosho just moments earlier.

"TENCHI! Life energy reading on Earth!" Washu yelled out from the engine compartment. "High Energy event approaching, brace yourself. It'll strike the Juraian ship, but the backlash could destroy us." The self proclaimed 'smartest person in the universe' stated.

They watched as a blue gold ovoid shot up from the earth on a slight curve and struck the Seraheto. However instead of a titanic explosion that should have happened, the force bullet washed over and then was absorbed into the hull. They watched as a person rebounded off of the wooden hull of the space ship and started to drift back down towards the planet.

Shortly after the energy washed over the other ship the air and water stopped leaking out. And the Seraheto's own tractor beams went into action as it pulled the debris and people back into itself. The wood was also starting to reform as it was pulled into place. After moments a view screen came up and a platinum haired woman with slightly feral features and a arm in a sling stood there, a small amount of blood dripping down from a blow to her forehead. "Thank you for your assistance Yukinosho, however it seems that Tsunami has granted us a miracle today. Can we dock so that you can transfer what personal and cargo you managed to keep from falling into the atmosphere?" The woman said in a kind though weary voice.

"Yes Admiral!" Kiyone said as she had come to attention unbeknownst to the rest of the people on the bridge.

"Ah, a GXP officer. Thank you again. We'll see you momentarily." She said before the screen died.

"Admiral?" Tenchi asked and Ayeka and Kiyone both turned towars him.

"Yes, Admiral Seto Kamiki. Head of the Galaxy Police." Kiyone said.

Ayeka spoke up after that. "And my grandmother."

"Just great. More royalty." Ryoko said from her place leaning into Tenchi's lap.

"Yep, more royalty little miss space pirate." Ayeka said with a slight grin. "Just imagine what she'll do to you if she finds you like this."

"Enough of that." Kiyone said as she hit a final combination of buttons on the control board activating a cloak to hide the ship now that the main danger was past.

Mihoshi looked up from her magazine. "What happened?" She asked to everyone's groan.

**Scene Break**

Unknown to the people on the ship a manned space satellite from almost over the horizon was in an uproar. The craft was an international science platform run by several countries and they were recording things that all of them thought would never happen outside of science fiction.

On one monitor was a playback of some of the things that the stations camera's had captured. It showed a damaged but still moving ship coming closer to the earth from a vector that had to be from beyond Mars. That in itself would have the science community in an uproar for many decades. However the thing that had them even further panicked was the fact that this ship was discovered after reviewing the data to be made out of wood. Then they started to watch it and found out that it had to be damaged in either battle or something else as they watched a portion blow outwards and debris start to drift into it's tail.

Things might have stayed on the "First Contact" Scenario's and otherwise until another section of high powered camera's made the cosmonauts aware that there was another ship closing on the first. However this one was made out of some form of metal or ceramic alloy and was a gleaming red. It was also roughly a stiletto shape and had several ports that the crew of the international space station could only think were weapons ports. That started an argument between the Russian, German, Austrian, and American's as they all accused the other's of developing such a ship and keeping it hidden. That is till a Chinese astrologist pointed out to the rest that the ship had risen from somewhere in Japan. After that everyone turned to the two Japanese Space officers that were serving with them. The two Orientals just raised their hands in defense. One of them stating that they didn't know anything.

While all of this was going on no one noticed the Canadian cosmonaut typing away at one of the far consoles, a data upload screen was visible on his display and every time one of the camera's finished their upload to the stations computers it would be added to his upload cue.

**End Chapter**

(1)Yaoi…. The male/male relationship. Similar in many aspects (the same actually) to being Gay.

Author's Notes:Yay another Story Started.

First off… this story happens in the GXP universe, however it doesn't happen in the actual GXP Cannon Anime. Only some of the characters from GXP will be here. The others will be adaptations from other Anime and books in a GXP environment.

Second though I am in the process outlining this one I'm still very open to the way it can go. So I am opening two area's to reviewer/email suggestions:

1 – Relationships. Who will end up with whom. One rule. Please no Ranma/Akane requests, or Ranma/some dude requests. There are 5 main female characters of Ranma's age that will appear with some regularity later on, next couple of chapters will start into them. Also I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the NWC for the long term of this story, but I'm not hatemongering them or otherwise. They're just not planned for main characters yet.

2 – Missions and such. Since this is GXP there will be assignments and missions that Ranma will go on later. I will be drawing many from different forms of anime and otherwise once that part of the story is ready to post. However I will accept any suggestions for these and give kudos' to the reviewer/person who suggests it. However I need a full scenario request. Not a "Ranma goes and saves so and so" scenario.

Thanks again for reading…

Enlu Tarsonis.


	2. Chapter 2

Juraian Knight: Chapter 02.

Disclaimer. Don't own Ranma 1/2 , Nor Tenchi Muyo. Just my own house, car, and job (which is actually a pretty cool job too). However 5 of the characters in this fic are my own creation (And no they are not Super Powerful Mary-Sues, nor are they Mary-Sue's by the definition that I've been reading in the forums they're just OC's that are hopefully dynamic and will fit into the universes that I am playing around with).

A quick note:No I am not dead. Neither are my 3 other posted fanfics or this one. I am just VERY busy with minimal time to pursue very enjoyable but complete waste of time endeavors such as writing fanfiction and reading fanfiction. I will not bore people with telling my life story here, but suffice it to say it's very full.

A second note:Ok, I was experimenting with the notes just after the marker that several reviewers suggested I do after I put a lot of them at the end of the chapter… I'm going back to that style with this chapter update. Sorry to everyone that that annoyed. Second, has had some probs with my upload and somehow chapter one got replace and I have two copies of chapter 2 on there… so I'm re-uploading the whole piece.

Third note:Suggestions help. Thanks. It is those suggestions that have helped me get better at writing and have made my story flow much better since I started working on Weapon X Japan.

So after those rewritten rants… Please enjoy the chapter.

**Chapter 02:Recruiting**

Ranma came to slowly, his awareness drifting back into being from what he may have considered a rather odd dream. The dream wasn't there anymore, not even a recollection of it other than the fact that it was odd. Once he was done recalling his dream he finished coming back to awareness and opened his eyes. Once they were open Ranma looked up and saw branches above him, for some reason they seemed to be smaller than the ones on the tree on Togenkyo island (1). And he could now feel the bed below him, it was very comfortable, almost lulling him back to sleep again regardless of whether or not he needed it.

"_Did I black out?"_ the youth thought to himself as he continued to look around. _"I could only be on Togenkyo, where else would someone put a bed underneath a tree like this."_ He turned his head to the side and sees that somehow the branches interweave to all around and form a good sized room, a living room as far as his ki senses could tell. _"but this tree is not like the ones on the island."_

Ranma sat up after looking around for a second. Tried to sit up that is. Instead he found his left arm in a sling and felt a tightness around his ribs that was reminiscent of a break or a deep bruising. He finally managed to sit up after rolling slightly onto his right side and bracing himself on his right arm. After the brief exertion he ended up not quite panting, but breathing a little bit harder than he normally would have after doing a hundred pushups. The pig tailed youth then reaches for his ki to start an accelerated healing cycle as he didn't want to be caught in a sling when one of his rivals found him next. His eyes widened as he felt how different it felt, in fact it resisted his attempts to mold it and bend his life forces to his will. Almost like his control was ghosting through it. Sort of like it was there and completely solid, but his control and capabilities were not there as every time he concentrated to send it to his left arm nothing happened.

Ranma was about to give up and at least stand up to explore this place he found himself in when he noticed a presence enter the room. He looked over to his left to see a beautiful woman that could have been anywhere between 20 years of age to 30 years with short but well groomed turquoise hair and wearing something that reminded him of a cross between a Kimono and one of Kuno's hakima (2). As she walked towards him he noticed that her left arm was also in a sling and that there was a pressure bandage on the left side of her neck.

"Good sir." She began in a lilting voice with a strange accent that Ranma could not discern. "I thank you for saving both my life, and the life of every survivor on this ship."

**Scene Break**

A few days had passed for the small group of people from Nerima. And though it was only a short amount of time things still had yet to settle down. The Tendo's had only just managed to get home only to find themselves, or rather Akane found herself being bombarded by a combined front of Ukyo, Shampoo, Moose, and Nabiki of all people. Kodachi had just shown up somehow and was attempting to wail away at Akane with either her shrill voice, or with her gymnastic ribbon. Luckily for Akane Ryoga had stepped in at that moment and taken the ribbon from the slightly demented girl.

"I Told You Guys that I DON'T KNOW where Ranma is!" Akane yelled at them with her fists balled at her sides. "You saw how that idiot had shot out of the tree. WHY are all of you so busy condemning me instead of looking for him anyway?"

Shampoo looked at her with an expression that stated to anyone who cared to watch that she did not believe a word of it. "Pervert girl probably chase Airen to Energy launch."

Ukyo looked at Shampoo in almost surprise for the level of cognizance that the Amazon displayed with her statement. "I agree Sugar." She then looked at the current object of her wrath. "Your harping and nagging at poor Ran-chan probably drove him to do that."

Akane looked like she had just about had enough and her right hand was visibly shaking and grasping at something, almost as if she was trying to get a hold of some sort of weapon.

"Hold Children." Cologne said in a calm but gravely voice. "Fighting each other does not find Son-In-Law." She looked at Akane with her back to Ukyo and Shampoo. "And loosing your temper does nothing to justify or exonerate you youngling."

While Akane was spluttering in denial to what Cologne said, Nabiki and Ukyo were snickering. Shampoo just looked at them and then Akane and asked. "What 'xonarete'?"

"Exonerate Shampoo. It means to have an official declaration that someone is not to blame." Nabiki answered as she reverted a bit to her regular faÁade.

"Why not say in first place," Shampoo said as she stomped her foot in an exasperated huff. "Japanese is stupid language." She finished before turning around and storming out of the house.

Ukyo turned to leave as well, only a quick waive and goodbye marked her leaving. However Ryoga, Cologne, Kuno, Moose, and Kodachi remained in the house with the Tendo's. Cologne was snickering again while the Kuno siblings were just watching everyone a bit warily. 

Cologne gave a quick dry cough. "If it is of some small consolation to you Akane, then I'll state that I do not believe that you are at fault for that blast."

"Finally, someone talking some sense."

"Yes, the person at fault for the blast was in fact Son-in-law."

"WHAT!" Genma yelled out. "I knew that my worthless son would be so callous as to do something like that. Oh why was I so cursed to have such a lazy son." He bemoaned as he and Soun walked off to the Shogi table to play one of their regular games. Kasumi sighed heart fully and walked off muttering about things returning to normal as Nabiki turned on Cologne.

"So, how do you know that the energy ball was Ranma?" She asked calmly.

"Because it was laced with his life energy." Moose answered for the elder only to receive a bonk on the head.

"Quiet Mr. Part Time." Cologne said then continued. "He's right though." Ryoga nodded from where he sat. "Ranma's life force was all throughout that energy ovoid. Somehow he must have taken some of the energy from the tree itself and contained it. Now all we have to do is figure out where on Earth he is."

Ryoga stood up and shouldered his pack. "Well, I'm not waiting around for that coward. He's probably off somewhere gathering another group of girls." The last part said with a snarl. As Ryoga departed and everyone watched him, Nabiki made her way out of the room as well with a mischievous grin on her face.

**Scene Break**

Ranma looked at the woman who had introduced herself as Seto Kamaki. His expression was slightly blank and his posture (what little posture you can have while leaning up on one elbow in bed) was that of a confused and out of place person.

"Say What?" He asked her when his brain started to function again.

"I said young sir, that we are in your debt. If not for your timely arrival with such an abundant amount of life energy the Serateho would have died and with everyone on board." The older woman said with a kind glint in her eyes.

"Say what again?" Ranma said and came up to a full sitting position. "You mean I saved a buncha people? Last thing I remember was savin 'Kane from some curse water in Togenkyo, then a blue/gold light. Now I'm here in some weird bed under a tree."

"You are in the medical section of the Juraian Space Ship Serateho. The tree is part of the control system and structure of the ship." Seto said as she walked over to a seat that seemed to form from a gathering of branches that came down from the tree limbs and turned into roots once they came near the ground. "Your life force gave the Serateho enough energy to jump start back to being able to function. If not for that almost 500 people would now be dead. Maybe more."

"How would my life force help a space ship?" Ranma asked from his sitting position.

Seto looked him directly in the eyes. "Simple. This ship is alive, and was dying due to damage and energy loss when we arrived in orbit around your planet. Your energy hitting the living inner hull of the Serateho was similar to having a heart restarted with an application of what you call electricity."

"So, I helped you out. No prob, that's what a martial artist is supposed to do." He looked around the area again then back at the woman who was claiming that he had saved both her and many lives. "But, when can you get me back home?" He asked.

"After we bring you to the Crown planet for Knighting."

"Say What?"

"I said, after we bring you to the Crown planet for Knighting. Because of your bravery and quick action you have managed to do a heroic deed that the Empire of Jurai must repay."

"No." Ranma said simply and swung his legs down from the bed.

"What do you mean 'No'." Seto asked, an expression on her face that looked like she was unused to being told no.

"I mean, no. I need to get back home, I'm sure that everyone is worried about me. There's no way I can go runnin around the stars gettin knighted for any ol act of duty that I did. My pops alone would be pissed, let alone all the others I gotta deal with in my life."

"Well, there are other reasons then. One of which I MUST insist on." Seto said getting her wind back behind her sails. When Ranma just looked at her with a blink or two but not saying anything else she continued. "When your energy bullet hit the side of the Seraheto the Juraian Space Tree absorbed almost All of your life energy. If not for it's quick action to bring everyone inside a force bubble immediately and then sending a life energy link directly to you then you would now be dead. Right now you are completely reliant on Juraian energy to live, and until we can get you back to the Juraian home world of Jurai we can not stabilize it or link you permanently to your own Space Tree which would allow you to be free to wander around the Galaxy on your own once more."

"You mean that I would die?"

"Yes. You would. And there are only two places where you can gain the energy link required to allow you to live without being within 10 of your kilometers from a Space Tree. The home world of Jurai, or in the presence of Tsunami the Ship of Jurai. The quickest way to get you linked is on Jurai as we would have to find the Goddess Tsunami to find the ship Tsunami before we could link you there. As we would be on the home world then our Emperor would then be able to Knight you as befits your act of heroism and bravery."

"Even if that act was an accident?"

"Yes. Accident or not. You saved this ship and the lives of everyone onboard. That must be rewarded."

"I still want to go back to Nerima first." Ranma said reluctantly. "I need to tell my pops and 'Kane."

Seto paused before answering him. "We can't. We're only a week left from getting to Jurai, we have been traveling since we finished repairs about 3 days ago and are expected back in Juraian space as soon as we can."

"So just turn around and get me back. 3 days is bad enough."

"It took us 3 days to complete repairs. You've been asleep for almost 6 days now."

"WHAT!" Ranma shouted.

"Calm down, after the Knighting ceremony we will make arrangements for the rest of your reward. Especially as a Knight must have a proper holding. Jurai does not like to have its Knights wandering around without the proper estates. It would make us look bad to the other Star Nations in this Universe."

"You mean I've gotta take over some land? Just great, now I'll end up like Kuno." Ranma complained.

"I do not know who this Kuno is, but it would not be 'some land'. A Knight once Knighted must assume duty in the Court of the Star Empire of Jurai, and part of that duty is the responsibility of Lordship that goes with the title of Knight. You will receive more information soon, but in the mean time you have basic run of the Serateho. I must get back to my own duties, and the ship will not let you get into places that you do not belong. Oh, and I should also warn you. The crew wishes to thank you in person as well as many of the passengers. So if people come up to you that you don't know they're just a little awe struck that someone not of Jurai was able to replenish a Space Tree so well. You've become quite famous to them now." With that Seto left the dumbfounded Ranma alone in the room.

**Scene Break**

Ryoko was sitting on the couch in the living room of the Misaki house. She was comfortably watching some news broadcast while eating some crackers. As she sat there the broadcast changed from the local news to international events.

"TENCHI! OLD MAN! WASHU!" Ryoko yelled out as she stood up, the crackers falling onto the floor. "GET IN HERE NOW!"

While the alarmed ex-space pirate finished her yell just about everyone came barreling in to the room with the exception of Washu who of course had a bit further to go.

"What's wrong Ryoko?" Tenchi asked only to hear Ayeka gasp beside him. Tenchi looked at her and saw her pointing at the Television. "Shimata…" Tenchi said quietly and watched the screen.

On the Television was a computer enhanced scene showing the damaged ship that they had helped last week, unlike what they knew happened though there seemed to be only debris and none of the people they had helped. About twenty five seconds into the clip the blue and gold energy ovoid that they had seen themselves crashed into the side of the space craft and then all the debris started moving closer to the tree as it started to fade from the picture. Another half minute elapsed and then there was no visible debris what-so-ever and only stars could be seen.

"Well, that answeres that." Washu said from the other side of Tenchi causing him to jump in startlement. "I was wondering when they would air the video."

Ayeka turned to look at Washu in amazement. "You knew that we had been seen and yet felt no need to inform Lord Tenchi or myself?"

"Yep. However I don't know if the Yukinojo was traced or not. I have only been able to tap into that video feed as it was being discussed by some of the larger news agencies."

Tenchi turned to Washu. "Why wouldn't you know if we were traced or not?" He asked. "Aren't you the Smartest woman in the Galaxy?"

"That's Smartest Woman in the Universe! And don't you forget it." Washu said with an air of confidence bordering on arrogance. "And do you know how primitive this worlds computers are? It's hard enough getting a link with them, but I have to write special programming just to interface with this senile operating system that some genius in a city called Seattle came up with. Not to mention the lack of hyperspace bandwith to work with, it's almost like being in the stone ages!" With that the petite red head with a hair style almost as big as her head turned and walked off back towards her lab confident with her explanation.

Once she had left Tenchi turned to the rest of the group. "Did she just avoid the question?"

**Scene Break**

Ranma had gotten up a while ago and had been wandering around the ship ever since. He was in more than a little bit of awe. The inside of the area outside of the collection of drooping branches that made up the 'medical' ward was enormous. It looked like about thirty or forty meters to the top of the area and was at least four hundred meters to the far end. Much larger than any park he had ever encountered. He had declined moving from the more natural area of the ship that he had awakened in to go to the service and living areas underneath but had decided to stay in the natural environment.

The pig tailed youth had also discovered after getting up and moving around a bit that some of his ki was starting to come back under his control. Not enough to do anything with, but enough to tell him that he was indeed recovering.

After about ten minutes of wandering Ranma encountered a great stream that led back up to the roots of a great tree that seemed to be in the center of the great cavernous room. The stream was crystal clear and seemed only to be about a foot or two in depth with walking stones strategically placed to allow people to cross without needing to resort to a bridge or to getting wet. The area held an almost magical calm to it, and Ranma could see many people moving around. Some of them were obviously fixing something near one bank as the dirt had somehow been raised into a pillar about shoulder height and they had a wooden panel opened up on the far side that they were peering into. Nearer to him was a young couple in some form of military like uniform similar to what Seto had been wearing, one of the two had a bandage around her head and a brace on her thigh. The guy with her had something that looked like a wooden cast on his left arm and some burns on his face that looked about a week old. But the two were smiling at each other.

"_Now why can't me and Akane be like that." _Ranma thought to himself regretfully _"If I wanted to be like that!"_ He thought almost immediately afterwards unable even to himself about having feelings for his still earth bound fiancÈe. Trying to distract himself he decided to pump some ki into his shoulder to accelerate his healing as he didn't like having his arm in a sling.

**Scene Break**

At Furinken High school of the Nerima ward of Japan there seemed to be little studying going on. Instead there was a plethora of gossip and rumormonging. At the center of it all was Nabiki and her small group of cohorts in crime. Of course the discussion ranged from what the aliens ate, to whether they were the fallout from an interstellar war. Nabiki, having a bit more inside information was getting ready to sell the info packets to her fellow students.

On the other side of the lot was Akane who was not paying attention to the other teens talking about the aliens. She seemed to somewhere off in her own land and attributed the chatter to a new movie that everyone was interested in. She was still in that state when the self proclaimed Blue Thunder of Furinken High came over spouting proclamations that the Foul Sorcerer Saotome had been taken home as the obviously low born servant of a debaucherous alien empire. Hearing the different slant on Kuno's speech caused Akane go groan and leave him behind before he started spouting rhetoric trying to woo her and Ranma-chan into his arms.

**Scene Break**

"Milady Kamiki, what you are proposing is preposterous." A slightly aged man clothed in the finery of a Juraian noble stated as he reclined in a wooden chair that was placed across from Seto Kamiki. Seto was dressed in the more functional clothes of the Galaxy Police uniform. The tight fitting outfit proving much easier to get around in in her opinion than the formal robes of a Noble of Jurai. Something that her adviser felt much angst over.

"What I am proposing is the least of what should be done." Seto said back to the old man acting as her advisor on this cruise. "And you know it Garns. If this youth was Juraian you would not have batted an eyelash at it. Only the fact that he hails from the planet earth where the Crown Prince is in residence keeps you from seeing that." She said to her aged companion.

Garns seemed unmoved by this and continued on. "But what about your other previous project?" He asked. "Did he really turn out to be that great an addition?"

"That 'project' as you say has helped us in many ways. And helped out the GXP much more."

"Milady, I am sure that may in fact be the case. But he was just added to the rosters of the GXP. This new project of yours, if you do go through with this folly will be not only in the GXP, but will be a Jurain Noble of his own right. The House of the Lords will have non of it, let alone the Nobility of our Empire. You are one of the few Juraian Nobles to ever serve in the Galaxy Police, it is kept that way to give the GXP their air of separation needed to maintain the peace and impartiality."

"That may be Garns, but I sense great things about this Ranma Saotome. I believe that he will be a force for good."

"I only hope that you are right Milady." Garns said. "I can only hope."

**Scene Break**

A couple of days had passed on the living space ship Seraheto. In those days Ranma had been wandering the ship and generally trying to make himself comfortable in this strange alien environment. Luckily for the pig tailed youth much of the ship was like a great tamed forest refuge or state park which reminded him of his years on the road with his father.

During his wanderings he had encountered a great many people that were injured in one form or another. As he was who he was he couldn't just leave them to suffer so he had started to aid the personal of the Seraheto and her passengers who needed it by giving shiatsu, pressure point aid, and massage. Back in Nerima people might have been amazed that the boy that only knew how to fight was acting as a serrogate healer to this ship. He hadn't actually encountered many healers in fact, only one Nurse and a scruffy old looking man who couldn't actually have been older than 30 who said he was a doctor but looked more like a drunken rabbi or homish man than what Ranma thought a doctor should look like.

However every now and then he came upon something that did not fit in. Like the washrooms. After a couple of days of helping out and wandering around the pig tailed youth decided he needed a wash. So he started looking around for them. Now Ranma was familiar with hot springs, as well as with public baths. But the washrooms on the Seraheto were open. At first Ranma had thought that the odd pool like area was just a visual spring or another park until one evening he came across a guy and three women using it while off duty.

He had watched as they had calmly taken off their clothes and started to bathe while showing none of the reaction he had come to take for granted back on his home world. The girls were not bashing the guy for being a pervert, and the guy was not staring or trying to grope the women. In fact they were acting as if they were still wearing their clothes as they washed off. Their seeming comfort with each other 'out of uniform' as it were had derailed Ranma's train of thought so much that he was more shocked about that then he was about the water that would shoot up from the pool and arc around to rinse them off as if by mental command.

After that Ranma had gone looking for a more secluded bathing area as he did not feel comfortable undressing in public like that regardless of Akane's accusations of his lack of modesty. After all, going without a shirt on was completely different than going without any clothes on at all. Once he had put his mind to it Ranma had been able to find such a place, and confident that he would not be seen while bathing and that his curse would not be discovered he went about his business.

In another part of the ship Seto was pleased with what she had seen of her new ward, and if everything worked to her machinations her new protege as well. She felt that she had made the right decision, not just because of his tremendous potential but also as he had so far shown a kind heart and a knowledge of healing that would work greatly in any pursuit that he so desired. She was so caught up in her contemplations though that she failed to note the presence of another being till the young aid coughed slightly to gain her attention.

"Yes Ensign?" she said after quickly checking his collar pips to make sure she got his rank right.

"I have something here that you should probably see My Lady." He said while handing her a small data crystal. Seto was about to put it in her reader when her aid coughed again. At her raised eyebrow he continued. "My Lady, it would probably be best if you viewed the recording in a private chamber. The control center would most likely not be the best viewing area."

Seto nodded her head and stood. "Garn, please let me know if anything comes up while I am in my day quarters." She said to her advisor who had just walked into the main control area of the Seraheto.

Garn looked back at her and sighed. "I just love when she is so hard to track down." He said under his breath and then walked over to the Officer of the Watch to ask for an update.

**Scene Break**

In Seto's private chambers she had already plugged in the memory crystal into her rooms viewer and a recording of Ranma getting undressed for bathing was on the screen. The background said that it was in one of the ships second hull bathing area's near the crew quarter overflow area.

"Ensign, though I do enjoy a good show I should let you know that I do not find this a particular funny joke. And if Garn put you up to it then I'll have to have a talk with him." She said then looked back at Ranma as he turned towards the recorders pick up. "Though I do appreciate the voyeuristic gesture none the less."

The Ensign had turned beat red at her comments with both embarrassment as well as with shame as he thought that maybe he should have explained what was on that recording prior to having her just view it. "My Lady, I assure you, this is no jest. Please just continue to watch our guest, something is about to happen that you should be informed about."

Seto just sat back in her seat after that and decided to just enjoy the show then, and did have to admit that it was a good one even if slightly unethical for a lady of her stature to be doing. Then her opinion changed. As Ranma had stepped over to a small water outlet and had figured out how to get it to work and was rewarded with a spray of water to his face. However that was not what changed her opinion. It was the fact that his form shimmered briefly and once the shimmer was done he was replaced with a very buxom but very short naked red haired girl. The girl managed to get the stream of water to cease and was spluttering for a second as she was obviously spouting of some form of curse. Then she shrugged her shoulders and shivered a bit as the water, which Seto could now tell was cold from the girls reaction, turned and headed for one of the other water outlets and started to fiddle around with it. After a moment she managed to get it to turn on and the resultant spray of water initiated the form shimmer again and Ranma returned to his male form. Seto could see the steam generated from the water as well as his now relaxed expression and then reached to turn off the recording.

"Did you manage to get a bio scan of the change?" Seto asked.

"I am afraid not My Lady. This happened last night during the mid watch. They did not actually see any of the security footage. It only came to my notice when I was checking battle damage that we are still in the process of repairing. I noticed a section of the crew overflow area had a bio sign in it that would move in and out periodically during the ships late evening or night hours. So I pulled up the visual recordings and found the middle of this segment where the red haired girl turned into our guest."

Seto thought for a moment then looked her aid in the eyes. "I would like full, but unobtrusive bio scans of Ranma at all times. Do not let him, her, uh... Ranma know about them please, but use the internal ship sensors to keep tabs on him and let us see if we can get a recording of what is actually happening if he shape shifts again."

Her aid bowed and left her day cabin as she turned back on the recording. "Interesting, I'll have to keep an eye on your progress."

**Scene Break**

Back in Nerima Nabiki was standing on a street corner with the smirk to end all smirks on her face. It was the smirk of someone who knew something and was not sharing.

"Argh… Mercenary girl frustrating." Shampoo said to Nabiki's face as she pouted. "Why no say what know? Do know or not know where Airen is?" she continued as she put her fingers on the bridge of her nose as if to stem off a headache.

"Oh, but I do know where he has gone. I just stated that he is not on this planet." Nabiki said enjoying pulling the emotional cords of her sisters rival for the pig tailed martial artist.

Shampoo pulled her hand down from her face before she continued. "What you mean 'Not on planet'? Where go other than planet. Airen Dead? Airen on Moon?"

"Ah, now you ask the right question. Let's go, I have something to show you." Nabiki stated then turned around and walked towards her families house.

Once the two of them arrived Nabiki headed strait to her room and turned on a small desktop computer she had there.

Shampoo looked over her shoulder for a second trying to see what Nabiki was doing. "Why mercenary girl need game box?" She asked while looking at the computer.

Nabiki snickered before answering. "It's not a 'game box' it's a computer. And there are no games on this one, just files. Lot's of files."

"Then why not use cabinet? Is easier to look up files, no?" Shampoo said while looking around the room. "Is waste of space." She said looking back at what Nabiki was doing. Then she stopped her derisive attitude and watched what was on the computer screen as Nabiki pulled up some form of square file like looking at a television inside of the computer screen. It showed an energy ovoid very similar to the one that her Airen had accended to the heavens in. "What? How get?" Shampoo demanded.

"Nuh uh. You are not going to get something for nothing. This picture is a freebee. To view the full file you'll need to pay me." The money conscious girl said as she held out her hand. Shampoo sighed and dug into her pockets and counted out some yen and placed the bills into Nabiki's waiting hand. Nabiki looked at the amount that had been paid to her and shrugged her shoulders pocketed the money and then pushed the play button.

Shampoo watched the small 20 centimeter wide miniature screen inside the computers view screen play out and saw as the energy ball shot up and impacted into the side of a large vessel that seemed to be made out of wood that was silhouetted against the stars cape. She gasped as the vessel that at first seemed damaged suddenly started to pull in all debris and then vanished from the screen. Shampoo stared at the blank stars cape on the screen for a moment longer when she noticed that Nabiki's hand was outstretched for more money. Not even counting the amount she handed her full billfold to the other girl and waited.

"What you just saw is what everyone in the world saw on the news. What I am about to show you has not been seen and I believe is considered secret by our government, but it may give us a clue as to where to start looking for Ranma." Nabiki said to Shampoo and brought up two other windows and put them next to each other.

The window on the left showed the scene similar to the one that just played out, the one on the right showed the scene but from much further away and had part of the Earth in the picture. Nabiki started them both at once. On the left the wooden ship was there and Shampoo could now see people and debris were falling out of the large wooden ship as it came near the Earth. On the right screen a small speck of light could be seen rising from the earth and if she squinted she could make out the area where the wooden ship was as a slightly foggy blur. She also noticed something else. There was another speck trailing the foggy blur, to distinct to be a star, and to regular to be something else. When the spark from the planet hit the wooden ship the cloud of fog immediately started to disappear and the other speck could be made out much easier and could be seen as a red metal craft.

However on the screen on the left as soon as the energy ovoid hit the ship it immediately was absorbed into the crafts hull like a sponge absorbing water. And left outside rebounded off the hull was a well toned boy with black hair in a pig-tail wearing a white tank top and blue and yellow shorts.

"AIREN!" Shampoo yelled out when she saw him. Then gasped it was obvious to her that he was unconscious.

Shampoo felt a hand on her shoulder and didn't know when she and Nabiki had traded places but Nabiki was now standing behind her with her hand comfortably on her shoulder. "Keep watching, this next part is interesting." She said.

On the screen Shampoo watched as the debris started to slowly move towards the wooden ship and then watched as a small portion of the hull opened up near Ranma and he drifted back towards the craft and into the opening. Then the crafts and debris on both screens suddenly vanished.

Shampoo turned and looked at Nabiki. "Where they go?" She asked.

"I don't know where the wooden ship went. But I believe that the red craft came from somewhere in Japan." She said. "That craft is where we start to look."

**Scene Break**

In a open glade somewhere inside the Seraheto Ranma was working out. He was aware of the crowd that he seemed to be gathering but shrugged it off as something similar to what happened when he worked out in the public parks on Earth. Though the off duty girls were creeping him out a bit with the way they were looking at him.

As he completed a specific Kata that called for a handless jackknife back flip he came back to center and saw Seto finish walking up to him and stand 5 paces away and go into a basic combat stance. She was no longer in her sling just as he had shucked his off a day ago. Ranma was also wearing something akin to Kuno's hakima, but a little more form fitting as his shorts and tank top had finally bit the dust a couple of days ago.

Seto was dressed in something similar, when he had asked about it earlier in the week she had said that it was similar to what the Jurai considered to be work out clothes and as such he took to them and found them nearly as comfortable as his Chinese silks.

Ranma got into an actual stance of his own rather than one of his 'I'm not in a stance stance' as he figured that Seto would not only see past it but that she might be able to surprise him enough that he couldn't get his hands out of his pockets fast enough to block.

He was right of course, the aqua almost platinum haired woman across from him shot forward at a speed that when he first arrived at Nerima would have left him flat footed. Of course that was before some of his best speed training. However, he had minimal access to his Ki currently and as such he had to actually block her leading fist rather than just dodge around it. At that the match was started.

Seto pressed Ranma hard and actually managed to keep him mostly on the ground as he found it difficult to gain the distance to jump properly, he even paid for a particularly cocky attempt at a back flip by receiving a punishing blow to his thigh as he rose into the move. After that he stuck to more of the ground maneuvers. _"Man, she is stronger than Ryoga and about as fast as Shampoo. It's a good thing she's telegraphing almost as bad as Akane though."_ He thought as he swirled around a wide punch that if it connected would have been brutal to his shoulder. In response he tapped her right ear, jaw, and collarbone in rapid succession to let her know that he had not just broken through her defenses but could have landed several near crippling blows.

Seto turned around and backed away and bowed to her opponent in both appreciation and defeat. Ranma bowed back slightly out of breath as he had to use an anaerobic boost (4) rather than his normal ki enhancement to give the extra speed necessary to pull off that last move.

"You are very skilled Ranma." Seto said to him and walked up. "But you really should start hitting back instead of just tapping. It's rude to your opponent and can get you killed." She said as she draped her arm around him. "Now, I'd like to talk to you about a red haired girl that we've seen on a few of our security camera's."

**End Chapter**

(1)In case anyone has not seen it, Togenkyo Island is part of the Second Ranma movie. It is a floating island with a giant tree that has a pool of water that can turn anyone into a man. See the movie for more details.

(2)hakima, the formal wear out of armor of a Samurai. It's what Kuno is almost Always wearing.

(3)I am using the theory that Juraian Energy is very close but not directly related to Spirit Energy or Ki, and yes I know that in many fanfics especially with Yu Yu Hakusho that Spirit Energy is not Ki. But in this universe they will be very close to Juraian Energy. Sort of like American 60hz power source vs Russian 50hz power. Just a slight frequency off.

(4)Anaerobic boost. The ability to shoot additional toxins and adrenalin into your system during a physical maneuver by the simple act of not breathing. This is an actual ability or technique and I DO NOT recommend it. It can almost double your speed or power for a few seconds, however it can also cause a person to black out from lack of oxygen in their system. Most masters, sensei's, and even coaches highly frown on this technique though a few do teach it as a last ditch item that can be used in times of crisis. Also very few people actually call it Anaerobic boost, but that is the best description I have for it.

This additional note comes from nantukoprime and flushes out my earlier note

"Anerobic Boosting is also the leading cause of death in weightlifters, or sports players in their prime. The act of boosting and the strain it causes on the system is pervasive. So pervasive in fact, that the most common actual injuries are a hemmorhage in the main artery of the brain, a ruptured diaphragm, or a tear in the lungs/abdominal lining (note that those injuries are all injuries to smooth muscle, as the energy from the flooded adrenaline comes from internal systems that are not conciously being controlled)."

Authors notes – Jurai is an Empire, and in several of the Tenchi Anime, and in quite a few Manga there is a caste of Knights. Now in all the Tenchi series there has been no full fleshing out of the Juraian culture. Only bits and pieces, usually around holidays or basic interpersonal relationships. So I am borrowing a little bit of etiquette from two sources, the British Empire, specifically their Naval history. And a lot of David Webers books as he deals with space born empires and kingdoms quite a bit. As such, a person with Seto's lineage could indeed request or demand the Knighting of an individual responsible for not just her life, but also the safety of a Ship of Jurai. Additionally if the Ship had indeed used the generated life energy from the Life tree of Togenkyo and the energy matrix from Ranma's Ki bullet then I also conjectured that it would indeed drain a lot of life energy directly from Ranma as a result.

Second Note – I have received multiple IM's PM's and Reviews stating this so I thought I'd spend a second to explain. Ranma has No personal Ki right now. I was going to go into it in the next chapter but decided to explain quickly here. He is learning to tap the Seraheto but think's that he is using Ki not Juraian Energy. For you laymen out there (and as I myself am one as well) it is like being on plasma when critically wounded rather than receiving a blood transfusion. The Seraheto is the source and the ambulance and the transfusion is on the Planet of Jurai. Seto and her advisors believe that Ranma would not be able to jump start his life energy properly without a blessing from a Tree of Jurai (and Seto is purposefully bending her will to accept that belief). As such they think that the only way to keep the being that saved them alive is to get him to Jurai at the earliest possible time. But they are not on a warship, or on a Throne ship, heck not even a courier. They are on a bulk transport turned cadet training luxury ship for Seto's personal vacation and her ability to take about 500 cadets at once on a midshipman's first cruise, sort of a dual purpose month long trip.


	3. Chapter 3

Juraian Knigh Chapter 03

Disclaimer:Pretty standard. Don't own Tenchi, Don't own Ranma, just my job, my car, my life, and such. I am writing this for pure fun and to share it with people of like minded reading interests.

Author's Notes:see at the end.

**Chapter 03Explanations**

Ranma stood there and just looked at Seto blankly for a moment then hung his head in shame. "I guess that I should explain then. If you want you may be my second." He said in a slightly depressed tone.

The elder woman looked at him for a second before catching the reference to his Japanese culture. "Nonsense, There is no need for you to kill yourself over someone else. Just tell me who she is." Seto says as she leans forward onto her practice blade while hiding a grin at the way she is coaxing Ranma to answer her questions.

"You will probably want to get rid of me anyway. I am that red haired girl, it is a curse I received over a year ago." He said while still averting his eyes.

Seto looks at him with a blank expression that just disguised her actual thoughts and feelings. "Really, I can definitely see how you are a buxom red haired girl. Who happens to be several centimeters shorter. And how that could be considered a curse. Now come on, who would believe that?" She said hoping that those were the right buttons to get his competitive spirit back into the open.

"What? Of course I am. And it Is a curse. Cold water activates it." He said a bit indignantly.

"Sure sure, prove it." The larger woman said while looking down at Ranma-kun haughtily.

Ranma-kun just groans at the injustice then hops over to the river running near their small grassy practice area and jumps into it. When she got out she walked back towards Seto as Ranma-chan was doing she heard some gasps and turned around quickly to see what had made the noise.

On the other bank there were several girls both in civilian garb of their home planets and a couple in the GXP uniform of midshipmen. As the small group saw the raven haired hunk that supposedly saved their ship and many of their lives jump into the river they were curious. When he turned into a short buxom red head they had first gasped, then a couple of them squealed. And the last one blushed a very deep crimson and ran off murmuring excuses to her companions.

Ranma-chan sees this and thought to herself that perhaps the sight and disgust of his curse really was nearly universal. She walks slowly back over to where Seto is standing and sits on the grass near her. "Happy?" Ranma-chan says up to the Admiral that she had been sparring with just a little bit ago.

"I'm guessing that since you were just a guy that you have a way to change back?" The now much taller woman said to Ranma-chan who just nods in reply. "Good, then it's not to bad."

"Wha'dya mean not to bad lady?" the short red head said indignantly and folded her arms under her breasts, which unfortunately only added to her indignation as she realized what doing so did to her looks.

Seto just looked at her and suppressed a near overwhelming urge to either snicker at how cute the now petulant expression wearing Ranma-chan looked or to walk over and cuddle her or tickle her for the same reasons. Instead she replied. "You are still your same race, and not some animal. You can change back even if it is annoying. You do not endanger others with your 'cursed form'. And I'm guessing that you can experience a much more fulfilled life with that alternate form than most beings can experience in a hundred lifetimes." After Seto finished her statement to the now even more petulant looking Ranma-chan she got a slight gleam in her eyes and looked at the few girls still left observing them from a distance. "So why do you think that people dislike you or the curse?"

Ranma-chan just looked at her blankly for a moment then looked in the direction of the girl who had run off then glanced at the other girls who were still there but now avoiding her gaze while chattering among themselves. After a few moments of that she looked back at Seto with an expression that said 'You're kidding right?' When the taller woman didn't answer but kept staring at the smaller girl Ranma-chan finally broke and spoke up. "Of course they dislike it. It made one of them run off." She said as she swept her arm over in the direction of the one she had mentioned.

"Ha!" Seto guffawed out shortly since she couldn't hold it in any longer. She then continued with a slightly smug and knowing smirk. "They aren't disgusted by it, they're being perverted."

"Wha-?" Ranma-chan said without quite as much eloquence as she may have been able to muster if she hadn't been caught completely off guard.

"I mean, that they are having perverted thoughts and expressing it between themselves." She looked at Ranma-chan's completely bewildered look and continued. "Did you think that only boys were allowed to be perverted? Trust me, girls can be many times worse." She then looked down at her watch before looking over at the small group of young women watching them. "Aren't a few of you do on shift right now?" She called out to them and enjoyed the whole group scrambling to hurry off to what ever duty station required their presence.

Seto then looked down at the now blushing red head and decided to have a little fun. "Did you see the girl with the brown hair? She's probably bi-curious, and was probably imagining you turning into a girl in the middle of some… fun." She said with a lecherous tone. Only to blink as Ranma-chan's eyes rolled back into her head and she passed out on her feet only to fall down. "Wow, he really is inexperienced." She said out loud. "Probably some bizarre Earth tradition. We'll just have to see about that then." She said to herself as she leaned down to pick up the diminutive red haired girl. As she walked off plots and plans started to coalesce in her mind and after a while Admiral Seto Kamiki had a course set in her mind for this enigma of a being that had probably saved both herself and her crew inadvertently.

**Scene Break**

Back on earth, specifically in Furinken High School in the Nerima Ward outside of Tokyo talk is going around. Talk a bit more crazy than usual that is. Normally it was about the local weirdness, things like a crazed Kendoist craving after multiple women. Or an insane barber wannabe that ran the school. Or perhaps about a group of martial arts styled gymnasts attempting another victory through slightly underhanded techniques. One of the crazier ones going around was about the latest run in with a teacher that normally appeared to be a pre pubescent child but was in fact a young woman in her mid twenties.

However today in the grounds of Furinken High another line of conversations was going on. This time about the local trouble magnet and cursed martial artist. The first rumors were probably relatively light hearted or said in jest. About him being abducted by aliens or some other such nonsense. Though the Chemistry and Science club seemed much more likely to accept those rumors than to listen to the other obviously falsified rumors of his curse that turns him into a buxom red head. The headier rumors earlier in the day even went to the fact that he had left Akane, one of his Fiancee's, to serve in some form of Alien Foreign Legion. Though the rumors ranged quite the gamut from Alien Princesses kidnapping him to becoming a slave or sex slave to tentacle monsters from the stars. One strain of rumors said that a Intergalactic bounty hunter had finally closed in on their quarry and had taken the pig tailed youth in to stand trial for some atrocity committed by someone of his likeness out among the stars.

Into all this Akane Tendo has walked, not back in school but a few days before it all became quite overwhelming. She was a pressure vessel ready to explode. At least the Hentai Horde had not been acting up lately, but Kuno had upped his normal plague of attention on the youngest Tendo.

What really bothered her deep down in her psyche though was the fact that outside of Kuno and two of her closest friends, the entire school was abuzz with talk about Ranma and Aliens. Sure, for her he had been gone for a whole week, and she didn't know who leaked to the school that he was missing. But she couldn't fathom why everyone was talking about Aliens. It was Completely ridiculous. Ranma wasn't abducted, Akane knew it for a fact. Instead the idiot had somehow turned an attack of his into some bizarre form of human energy cannon from the Tree of Togenkyo. She wasn't sure if he even survived it, but she was sure the idiot was somewhere traveling through China or somewhere else.

Meanwhile in another part of Furinken another Tendo was busy at work. This time though it was not on the local toughs and martial artists fighting it out. Nor was it on various blackmail projects. It did however involve the missing pigtailed boy or girl depending on the water temperature. The betting pools she was arranging spread over only a few major categories, and many minor ones of course.

Nabiki's first major betting pool consisted of Ranma ever making it back and of course if he did make it back then when. Her second pool was over whether he did this on purpose or not, it was a relatively minor pool compared to other pools she ran regularly as far as choices were. However a lot of students and even some of the schools staff had bet in that one. Mostly to the end of his not purposefully doing anything. It was her third major pool that drew the most bets, and of course the largest ones as well. This pool was over what type of aliens had abducted Ranma in the event that he actually lived. Some of the responses actually tickled her pink and others had her wondering what the image rights would be worth to the Hentai industry.

**Scene Break**

Back at the Tendo house Kasumi had become a bit worried. Her family had arrived home not to long ago, but their young house guest Ranma had been gone a lot longer. She was thankful for being home, but regretful at what was going on around her. Her middle sister seemed to be fine, but with the emotional mask she almost always wore it was hard for her to be sure. Her father was doing what everyone expected of him. Specifically crying about the missing boy, or plotting with Ranma's father over how to get him and her youngest sister married.

Kasumi's youngest sister however was doing about the worst. Her anger was spiking further than normal. In fact it was becoming so bad at times that even her father was taking notice rather than cowering or crying over his vengeful daughter.

On the other hand at least Ranma wasn't around to take the brunt of it, even if his disappearance was the cause of her little sisters latest outbreak of violence and aggression.

All told the eldest of the Tendo daughters was feeling a bit indecisive of where to go next. So much of her families life had been swept up in the pig tailed youths adventures and endeavors that this sudden absence from their life made it a bit harder to cope with everything else that went on as well.

Of course to top it all of she also needed to prepare for Ranma's mother Nodoka to stop by, but this time there wouldn't even be Ranko to visit with her so she needed to figure out something to do to make sure that Mrs. Saotome was taken care of and entertained as well. Plus Kasumi needed to make sure that Akane didn't have to much time alone with the older and enigmatic woman as the eldest Tendo girl did not know whether Nodoka would act as a calming influence on her volatile sibling or as a catalyst for greater or more damaging change.

It was just turning into so much to be indecisive about.

**Scene Break**

During the last half a day Ranma had taken great lengths to avoid people. Somehow word had spread throughout the crew about his gender changing curse. Though they called it an ability, and several had already hinted that he was lucky Ranma knew the truth and that truth was that it was a curse.

What made it worse however was unlike the norm back in Nerima where the guys tried to come onto him and the girls avoided him. Here the male crew were trying to find out what it was like or even how to get cursed similarly and the females were getting almost as bad as Shampoo with their pushiness. Especially since not just one girl, but several were actively trying to get him to change in front of them. Currently he was on the run from one of the most persistent of the girls of Seto's crew that was chasing him around. He could just imagine that she was around the next corner, and he was praying to himself that she wasn't off shift as that often meant the most embarrassment for him.

Shortly after he had woken up from the Seto induced information overload earlier Ranma had gone to take a shower and change back to a guy. While in the bathing area she was to caught up in thoughts and didn't realize that someone else was there till after she had stepped into the flowing water from the open shower. As Ranma-kun stepped out of the spray he opened his eyes and saw a golden red skinned girl that was a little shorter than him standing there in the buff. As he had seen several people who either had great costumes on or different than normal human skin tones the reddish golden skin didn't surprise him nearly as much as her nudity. What really caught him off guard next though was when the girl came forward and introduced herself as Sumoi Katsurugi and asked him if he could change back to the girl. That freaked the aqua transsexual enough to just grab his clothes next to him and run.

To make matters worse he ran into her again several hours later and she was still naked. Afterwards when he had gotten away he asked Seto about it and she relayed that the Catyr were a genetically modified race that were initially born to colonize high gravity and radioactive planets. But there wasn't to many of those planets around, as such a small colony of the race had started on a nearly Terran world and then reverted back in technology losing the capability of interstellar flight for several centuries. During that time they lost the want of wearing clothes as their genetic enhancements made it so that even sub freezing weathers were decently balmy to them.

Seto also stated that it was quite the surprise when the Galaxy Police had encountered one of the Catyr's spacecraft as it made it's initial voyage to a nearby star system once they regained space flight technology. The crew was mostly Juraian and a couple of them nearly had a heart attack as they saw the state of dress up close. Since that time very few of Sumoi's people were part of the GXP because they disliked violence as well as some of them often times were mildly radioactive and since they didn't like to wear clothes they stayed on their planet. Of the people that did join other groups they often conformed while on duty, but off duty they either pushed the regs on their cultural choice or outright broke them. Seto herself often looked the other way as long as the Catyr in question didn't offend or act inappropriate with the other crew members.

Back to the present though, he had been on the run from her because she kept trying to get him to change in front of her because she wanted to make sure that the change was 100 and not just superficial. As the red skinned girl was training to become a science officer in the GXP she was absolutely fascinated by the curse and the ramifications on his social life that such a change would incur as Sumoi knew that Ranma's race as a rule didn't change and wasn't functionally hermaphroditic.

All that boiled down to a lot of running on Ranma's part however as the young martial artist didn't wish to be someone's guinea pig no matter what. Little did he know the problems that could occur if he was the focus of their attention.

**Scene Break**

Seto chuckled inwardly while reminiscing on the occurrences of their not unwanted addition to her current voyage. She watched from the side for the last while since her sparing match with the youth, and couldn't help but laugh as he struggled to just figure people out. The cultural mix that was the Galaxy Police probably caught him so off guard that she and her crew were seeing the youth for what he was instead of any masks that he normally wore in front of others.

To the quixotical woman this was a good thing, as what she saw was to her opinion a being of immense capability and adaptitude who could flex to most situations. Plus he was already well versed in battle tactics and capability. After the attack on her craft and some of the recent upswing in piracy and out right assaults on the peoples who plied the stars the platinum haired woman had been giving special thought to increasing some of the Galaxy Police's anti boarding and assault recruitment. In fact once she got back to the training areas with several of her midshipmen crew she planned on upping most of their physical training to include hand to hand and boarding procedures.

After her brief internal solillique Seto looked around the bridge area of the ship and saw one of the midshipmen standing near a duty station watching as the person at the consol explained how everything worked. She beckoned him over and asked him to find Ranma as they were nearing their destination.

Immediately after he left she called out to the captain of the Juraian craft "Please initiate the landing process, it is time for us to disembark at our stopover to the Galaxy Police Academy."

**Scene Break**

The runner that Seto had sent after Ranma was high tailing it down one of the many sub corridors of the ship he was currently attached to. Looking at his wrist he observed the dot on the computer display of his GXP issue comm watch as the ship's living computer interfaced with it to help lead him to where ever their earstwhile savior was spending his time currently.

"Serateho, where is Ranma right now?" He asked his comm unit as the dot kept moving around on his watch.

She is currently in transit herself Ensign. Please continue on your path and enter the reserve sanctuary forest surface level B The computer told the runner who had been tasked with finding their passenger. "Hrmmm… She?" the Ensign said to himself as he entered the open area in the center of the ship that appeared to be nothing so much as a giant park with a great tree growing in the center of it.

After a few minutes he found where his quarry was hiding. However Ranma apparently was not alone as the runner could see. Below the tree were a pair of the female midshipmen from the GXP academy that they had on board during this cruise. One of them was holding what appeared to be a reddish shirt and the other a kettle of water.

As the runner walked up he heard a female voice up in the trees calling out "Gimme my Clothes back you Crazy Girls!"

"_Great, either the computer's got a glitch, or the rumors of our guest are true." _The runner thought to himself as he cleared his throat behind the two midshipmen. "Ladies, don't you have duty stations to be at?" He asked them as they settled down.

Both girls eeped and ran, leaving the clothes in a bunch below the tree. The runner had just picked up the shirt when he heard a slight sound in front of him and saw a buxom red haired girl wearing only a pair of shorts standing there with her arms crossed under her breasts.

"Mind giving me back my shirt?" She asked and held out her hand to him expectantly.

The runner blushed a bit and turned around holding the shirt out to Ranma-chan.

"So what'cha need?" She asked him after a brief rustling of clothes. "Oh, I'm decent now." Ranma-chan stated when the Ensign didn't turn around.

He turned around and saw the red haired girl standing there in a red shirt that appeared to be a modification of the GXP exercise wear and a pair of black pants. She looked only mildly perturbed as she was looking at a overturned kettle near by the two midshipmen had been carrying.

"Admiral Kamiki requested your presence on the bridge Ms. Ranma, we're approaching our first destination." He said professionally as he now was able to discharge his obligation so that he could get back to his duty station for the approach. "Umm…" he continued looking at where the girls had run off to.

"Oh, they wanted to know how complete the curse is." Ranma-chan stated with a slight blush herself. "Dang girls are worse than Daisuke." She said to herself before looking back at the runner that Seto had sent. "So do we go now? Or do I have time to change back?" the busty girl said.

**Scene Break**

Shortly after Ranma-chan enters the bridge area under the great tree. She's still a bit red in the face from embarrassment with the whole ordeal of being an honored guest and with the harassment of the midshipmen on the ship. _"At least the regular crew are leaving me alone."_ She thought to herself as she walked up to Seto.

The tall woman dismissed the runner as she saw Ranma-chan standing there and waived off the smaller girls inquiry as to why she was called here by turning to the view area above them.

Ranma-chan was about to ask again why she was here when she looked above as well and saw a great planet taking up much of the sky from where she looked. The planet was predominately tan in color with a single large ring around it. However there were vast strips of green and a band of blue that was visible from where their ship was. She could also see at least two moons in the distance, one appeared to be reddish in color and the other looked to be bright blue, almost luminous. The aqua transsexual could also make out what appeared to be large structures out in the distance and even several other ships made out of wood like the one she was currently on.

"woah." Was about the only semi intellectually coherent thing that could come to Ranma-chan's overloaded brain at this moment. Standing there looking at the vast planet visible above the ships park horizon she felt a sense of smallness as the vast space in front of her loomed above her.

Ranma-chan jumped slightly when Seto placed her hand on her shoulder. "A Grand sight is it not?" The older woman said. "Soon we will be in our orbit and then we will take care of your problem."

"Huh?" Ranma-chan said then looked up at Seto. "Problem?" She said in a quiet voice.

Seto Kamiki almost laughed at the innocent look in the girls eyes. "Yes, your energy drain problem. We shall have a meeting with the Royal Council later, to reward you for your service, and to properly stabilize your energy." She said with a twinkle in her eyes.

Ranma-chan then felt a cold chill run down her spine as she observed the woman in front of her that she had began to know this last week. She thought that she had gotten a decent feel for the tall enigma of her savior and benefactor, but now looking at her she could only think that someone else held the strings to her life now besides herself or her old man.

**Scene Break**

Somewhere else, far behind Ranma-chan and Seto, back on Earth a meeting was happening. The room appeared rather nondescript, florescent lights above, white walls with sky blue base trim and a tiled floor. A long table stood in the center with many people sitting around it. There were placards in front of each person designating different countries. Japan, United States, Italy, Russia, Germany, Australia, Brazil, England, France, and several others were there.

Currently everyone was looking to a screen behind the head of the table, where on the screen the imagery captured earlier of the extra terrestrial vessel were projected. A man in a lab coat was standing near the screen operating the projection with a remote. As the wooden vessel drifted towards the Earth with debris spewing from several breaks in the hull a Energy Ovoid shot upwards to the vessel. Just before it impacted the man in the lab coat stopped the view and pressed a couple buttons on his remote and a blue square outline appeared around the Ovoid and then the square expanded to take up the screen. As the resolution enhanced itself a humanoid figure was becoming visible. Another box appeared around the figure and then zoomed to fill the screen and a few seconds later it enhanced itself enough for the people in the room to make out a grainy face of oriental features.

**End Chapter**

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the LONG delay in posting everyone.

Life caught up with me this last couple years. I'm not dead and gone, in fact I've continued to outline all of my works semi-regularly. However, the flushing out of my outlines has proven to be to time consuming to be able to post regularly.

Thanks to prompting from some of my readers I've made time to get back to writing (even though I usually don't read fanfiction anymore).

All four of my posted stories shall continue, and hopefully I don't drop totally into the void like many of the other authors of long running Ranma fiction.

Until next post… TTFN


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